Militants operating in Idlib de-escalation zone continued shelling settlements in Syria over the past 24 hours, Maj. Gen. Alexei Tsygankov, head of the Russian Center for Syrian Reconciliation, said on Sunday.

The Russian plan, which has not been previously reported, has received an icy reception in Washington. The memo said the U.S. policy was only to support such efforts if there were a political solution to end Syria’s seven-year-old civil war, including steps like U.N.-supervised elections.

“The proposal argues that the Syrian regime lacks the equipment, fuel, other material, and funding needed to rebuild the country in order to accept refugee returns,” according to the memo, which specified that the proposal related to Syrian government-held areas of the country.Read More →

Over two-thirds of Russians approve of Vladimir Putin’s performance as president, and almost half believe the country is developing in the right direction, an independent opinion poll has revealed.

The Levada Center published the results of an opinion poll on Tuesday, which showed that 67 percent of Russians approve of the actions of President Vladimir Putin. Some 32 percent of respondents said they were not satisfied with Putin’s performance, and one percent found the question too complicated to answer.Read More →

The sum, earmarked for “security assistance,” was allocated months ago, but was kept on hold pending “a series of defense reforms” the US demanded of Kiev. On Friday, the Ukrainian Embassy in Washington announced that the funds have been released – which was soon confirmed to CNN by Major Sheryll Klinkel, a Pentagon spokeswoman.Read More →

Refusing to bow to the threat of potential sanctions, Sitharaman said that the 39,000 crore ($5.7bn) deal to purchase five S-400 units has nearly been finalized. “Our defense relation with Russia has endured several decades and we have conveyed this about it to a US Congressional delegation which visited India recently,” Sitharaman told a group of reporters at her office in South Block.

“We have told the US Congress delegation that this is US law and not a UN law,” India’s defense minister Nirmala Sitharaman noted, apparently referring to a US federal bill that was implemented in 2017.Read More →

It said Athens accuses them of having tried to influence the northeastern monastic community of Mount Athos — known for its fierce patriotism — as well as local authorities in the north of the country to launch demonstrations against the agreement with Skopje.

In Moscow, a spokesperson for the Russian foreign ministry told AFP: “Tit-for-tat measures will be taken, as is always the case in such situations.”Read More →

All the Russian Oligarch Viktor Vekselberg assets in the U.S. are frozen and U.S. companies forbidden from doing business with him and his entities. The deadline to sever those relationships was June 4, but talks between Columbus Nova and the government are continuing, the firm’s spokesmen said.Read More →

The United States has told Syrian rebel factions they should not expect military support to help resist a Russian-backed government offensive to regain opposition-held parts of Syria bordering Jordan and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.Read More →

The third generation of BMPT-72 Terminator-3 will be able to hit all types of targets. At the same time, the new version of this tank will possess ground-to-air missiles, which will allow the Terminator-3 to take down unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV). The Terminator-3 will be a “well-armored” machine, which will prove effective in urban conditions in the fight against infantry and lightly armored targetsRead More →